Due In 22 Hours, 8pm EST. Leadership/Business Management Homework Assignment.RESPOND TO SIX CLASSMATE POSTS
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Samuel Bassin Easy wheels have started their expansion project with a very narrow focus. They are considering moving into new markets and are already pretty set on one location. Their goal is to provide low cost and easily repairable wheelchairs. Moving to this new market will cost a considerable amount of capital. To keep in line with their goal of low-cost chairs, they will have to look at ways to cut costs.
One option they could look at would be moving to manufacture for their overseas products to a country with a lower labor cost. Thailand has a minimum wage of $10 per day compared to $70 a day in Tokyo (Stots, 2018). Manufacturing could be accomplished in a country like Thailand, while distribution and sales are based in Tokyo.
Another option would continue manufacturing the parts in the US and then shipping the pieces to Japan for final assembly. This is not the cheapest option, but it would still allow the company to hire more veterans. Vietnam and India are also worth a look; they both have extremely competitive manufacturing environments (Lomas, 2017). There are many ways this move can be made. Limiting themselves to one city is not wise. Creating an expansion team to travel and research possible manufacturing and office locations would be a wise investment.
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Steve Sanders In an effort to create a competitive advantage for Easy Wheels prior to expanding into the Asia market, there should be unique aspects to how we do business that will be hard to duplicate. According to Gibson (n.d.) true industry leaders redefine their industry environment (para. 3). Easy Wheels can target local hospitals to replace their bulky and metallic chairs with our chairs that will not be hazardous around MRI equipment. Yet another creative and out-of-the-box approach to differentiating our product is to equip Easy Wheel chairs with GPS devices and partner with the senior living communities that care for patients with Alzheimer’s Disease and other forms of dementia. The staff can easily track patients that wander off and get lost. Also, this can provide some patients with an element of independence as they move throughout the compound freely without constant supervision and if they do need assistance they can be easily located.
According to Arbor for creativity to take place within an organization, the leadership must be proactive in encouraging strategy implementation (2008, p. 1). In an effort to save money on overhead cost, Easy Wheels can offer customers the ability to purchase the Easy Wheels’ 3D printing software online via access to a temporary link where they can manufacture chair part in their own home. There are strategies that plan for future solutions, and then there are strategies that are simply patterns of previous industry actions, but creative leaders can see the patterns that lead to innovation (Handelsman, 2014, para. 5).
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Robert Bergmann Easy Wheels has a few potential options that will allow them to meet the increasing demand in Asian countries, specifically Tokyo, Japan. One of those options is expansion of facilities into Tokyo or the surrounding areas. To do this Easy Wheels can opt to find local veterans to work the plant. Being in Tokyo will increase the possibility of finding veterans to hire as opposed to looking in the outskirts of the city. This option allows Easy Wheels to maintain the stance of hiring only veterans. Rickenbacker and Shariff’s concerns about the business environment in regard to the four business trends of a global economy are not as severe as they may have thought. In regard to people, Easy Wheels will have to hire veterans that have the ability to communicate and lead well in a global economy and across borders while also having a strong sense of cultural intelligence. CQ is especially important when working with Asian countries because of child labor laws. Dr. Tom Verghese (2015) explained that when looking at other cultures, people compare it to their own values and perspectives. Child labor to American is against the law and not even considered. To another, developing country, it may not be. When looking at the market, Easy Wheels can open pop-up stores to promote their products. Buchanan (2017) explained that Yogiboout of New Hampshire opened pop-up stores in Japan to promote the sale of their products because they wanted to expand to the region, and it helped to augment the lack of internet sales. Pop-up stores do not carry inventory, they only promote sales. He went on to explain that Japanese preferred to have the product shipped anyway (p 46). Manufacturing and shipping from Japan also allow Easy Wheels to distribute to the entire world with reduced shipping cost.
Another option Easy Wheels has is to increase internet sales and shipping services to Asia and building a shipping and warehousing center in or outside of Tokyo. Easy wheel can build a warehouse that does or does not employ veterans based on how married they are to the concept of only hiring veterans. The company would still hire veterans that have the ability to communicate and work in a global environment with strong CQ. Meyer (2010) explained that leaders have to make changes in the way they lead, communicate, build trust, and arrive at decisions when working with virtual or distant employees. They would also hire people that met their internet-based sales needs as well as a 24-hour helpline to facilitate calls from around the world in different time zones. As stated in the video Today business environment, it has become a world of excess supply and the buyers have more options that ever to choose from (Zerothuong, 2008). Thisoption allows for internet sales around the world with a shipping facility on each end of the globe easing the burden of cost and availability to the consumer while keeping Easy Wheels competitive without spreading their manufacturing facilities across the globe. This option also allows Rickenbacker and Shariff to maintain oversight on the quality of their products.
A partnership is another option. Rickenbacker and Shariff stated that they have received overwhelming interest in creating partnerships in Asia and Tokyo. The option exists to partner with one of the offering companies and have their wheel chairs built in the other business’ facility. This option removes the “veteran made” label from the product and may not be acceptable for Rickenbacker and Shariff. This option provides all of the other benefits of opening a new facility in Tokyo except for the veteran made aspect and would require sharing of profits. It would also increase the need for a high level of cultural intelligence as they will be working hand-in-hand with Japanese workers.
Another option is to increase internet sales, but still ship from their main location without a warehouse overseas. This option is not very cost effective in regard to shipping to overseas buyers and the cost of shipping may turn off potential customers. It could lead to negative company reviews due to failure to meet expectations.
Easy Wheels has a creative and innovative process and product that seems to be in high demand. 3D printing of wheel chair parts that are easily replaced is innovative and something no one else is doing. Gibson (n.d.) explained that innovation comes when a company offers a different product than another in some way that makes them stand out (para. 6). Regardless of which route Rickenbacker and Shariff go, it is a move in the right direction.
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Keisha CarrWhen deciding between expanding physically or virtually to Tokyo, quantitative and qualitative methods can be used to test the hypothesis using data that was previously collected. Quantitative methods are replicable and may include statistics and numerical data (unowacademics, 2014). The qualitative data (such as the number of wheelchair users, the change in population and more) can be put together into a predictive model that estimates how many wheelchairs Easy Wheels would sell in Japan and then use that to create a cost-benefit analysis.
Qualitative methods include surveys, interviews and case studies (unowacademics, 2014). Easy Wheels can send a survey to customers based in Asia who have already expressed interest in the product. The survey should determine which method customers might prefer. Easy Wheels can look at similar companies that entered the Japanese market to understand what approach they took and how successful they were.
An approach that uses both qualitative and quantitative approaches would be to do a pilot. Easy Wheels could create a small manufacturing plan in Japan as well as a small shipping location. Then, determine which options get the most usage. This approach has the benefit of giving a very direct comparison; however, it may take a lot of time and resources to develop.
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Theresa Gatton Exploring ideas to make the proposition work is conducted during the green hat step of the group discussion (Week 7 Easy Wheels case study).
Advantages of expanding Easy Wheels’ business on the internet are: market demand for wheel chairs currently exist, employing veterans could be competitive differentiator, worldwide customer access, faster ability to meet demand for customizing wheel chairs with easily replaceable parts
In Tokyo: changing labor market including union regulations, high number of existing sales through the internet, partnering could deliver more efficient processes, lower shipping costs than shipping from US
Disadvantages of expanding business on the internet are: pricing appropriately for worldwide countries given that the median income varies
In Tokyo: skilled human resources may not be veterans, expenses for manufacturing and warehouse locations, US job loss, competition is high and entry may be unwelcomed, import/export laws and costs, plastic waste management, risks cultural unknowns in an environment with no experience, leadership must have high cultural intelligence
The idea of expanding business through the internet allows Easy Wheels to grow their business using 3-d technology worldwide, including Tokyo. Sales and manufacturing jobs have changed. Technological literacy and creativity is imperative for leaders and employees to compete regardless of their business location (Gray, 2016).
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Brandi HeathIn this week collaboration explanation will be based ion green hat technique of Six Hats technique. Green hat represent creativity in making decisions. It help people to know what technique or idea to adapt to make it progressive. It defines the actual position of the idea one is presenting to the management or executives. Accurate understanding of green hat gives management an authority to think right and make crucial decisions. It fuels stakeholders and executives thinking to innovate processes and ideas for best possible solution for long term success (Sloane, 2011). They are able to make suggestion based on the ideas presented for any specific problem. Like every organization Shariff and Rickenbacker think big. They brainstorm, researched and they got an idea of how to improve business activities (Owens, 2012). Thinking big doesn’t matter if one does not have ability to sort out best solution. These people generated ideas and selected expansion.
Easy Wheels idea is very useful and creative but the management needs to expand it globally making it possible to serve Tokyo because of increased demand. they have option to build a new warehouse in Tokyo which will automatically increase their operations cost and product price but the quality they are serving and price they offering the product is quite satisfying for the consumers. They need to come up with creative promotional campaigns to attract more customers. Easy Wheels should go for technical systems to control their demand and inventory which will have positive impact in future if the quality remain consistent. They should hire skillful people who can control their IT system in Tokyo and United States.
Globalization is the concept which is affected by number of external and internal factors like political, social, business, economic and legal factors. It can be effective for the company if management thinks out of the box to gain competitive advantage. Easy Wheels has potential to lead market but owners need to identify factors and work according to those creatively. Creative thinks is a result of questions management ask why to think pout of the box (Corazza, 2014). Green hat boost level of thinking among entrepreneurs (Elmansy, 2015).
